Fatehpur butcher started selling beef as buffaloes went out of stock

A father of four, he started selling buffalo meat with his father when he was 15. It used to be sold at Rs 18 per kg then. But soon, the supply of buffaloes meant for slaughter dwindled and the prices went up, almost putting him out of business.

lucknowUpdated: Oct 02, 2015 01:34 IST

Hindustan Times

As the supply of buffaloes meant for slaughter dwindled and the prices went up, he decided to sell cow meat and has been doing so for the past five years. (HT File Photo)

For this fourth generation meat seller in the Amao village in Khaga Fatehpur, selling cow meat is a matter of survival.

A father of four, he started selling buffalo meat with his father when he was 15. It used to be sold at Rs 18 per kg then. But soon, the supply of buffaloes meant for slaughter dwindled and the prices went up, almost putting him out of business.

He then decided to sell cow meat and has been doing so for the past five years.

“People weren’t willing to buy expensive buffalo meat. The livestock was being bought by the slaughter houses of Unnao at better prices,” said the meat seller.

As a substitute, people like him decided to slaughter cows that found easily roaming on the streets. His two sons sell the meat in other villages at Rs 40 per kg. The buffalo meat now sells at Rs 180 per kg, almost equal to chicken.

“Not just me, almost everyone in Fatehpur has switched over to cow meat. Slaughter houses are to be blamed for this,” he said.

The five slaughter houses in Unnao alone account for slaughtering 12,000 to 15,000 animals each day, said sources in the meat industry.

As per their licence limit, the slaughter houses can’t kill more than 125 animals per day, according to a former official of Kanpur Municipal Corporation. Police sources said 280-km stretch from Fatehpur to Farrukhabad has become a hub for cow smuggling to Kolkata.